Toner/Health Risks

[Scott_Lewis]

If anyone is interested, I found a link to a free copy of the ariticle (pdf) for the study here.....

http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.c.../es063049z.pdf


If basically says that more study is needed. But, it does include a list of machines tested with the results.

[oldtek]

nanoparticles

A nanoparticle (or nanopowder or nanocluster or nanocrystal) is a small particle with at least one dimension less than 100 nm or .1 micrometer.

"Further analysis conducted with the application of the
K

-S test showed that for particles with sizes ranging from
15 to 710 nm, there were statistically significant differences
(p ) 0.01) between printers, as well as between printing
conditions (e.g., toner coverage and cartridge age)."

The study that Scott Lewis posted lists printers as emitting particles in the nanometer size. I withdraw my previous statement that I was incorrect in about toner and nanoparticles. As far a the statement about a black area around your vacuum better get out that microscope.

[yourownfree]

just my thought to each his own

we had a tech that his hands were were looking pretty bad. found out it was the gloves he was using. He used gloves for everything, WE...LL almost.He quit using gloves and his hands cleared up. Also you need to not use the grease solvent stuff unless you have to. It takes the oils out of your skin and cracks your fingers and hands. Clean your hands often and use hand lotion to revitalize. I use 90% alcohol 70% just doesn't cut it. Wd-40 is excellent for cleaning rubber and making them like new. I first heard of that, i thought it was stupid. True enough, if you use alcohol, it will dry out the rollers. i still do but then again i try to put it back after that by using wd-40. I wipe and rub the rollers down with WD-40 then dry wipe them. If i dont have WD-40 i use lubricating oil. For cleaning the machine I use a green scrubby pad kinda a used one so it doesn't scar up the machine but good for scrubbing. They say dont use ammonia or ammonia products. Personally I have never known of any damage noticeable by any of our techs or myself. I use glass cleaner product,that needs to be diluted. I dont even know if it has ammonia in it, come to think about it, i have never checked, but i have used ammonia products.The amount of ammonia is so small. I usually just use the glass cleaner for the copier externals. When there is a spot that wont come off, then i use the alcohol, 70% will not work for this, but 90% will. I dont use any orange stuff or any thing that smells bad like the sticky plastic epoxy crud. Wow that stuff smells bad. Found out some customers are allergic to various chemicals. Even peanuts.
Had a customer that had to go home from smelling some orange crud. Dont know what it was at that time, we dont even wear after shave. Yeah make sure your deoderent doesn't smell. Heck that is probably worse for you than the toner. I do like JB-weld quick. now that is great stuff for repair. sets up in 4 minutes. As for toner I know if i breathe the stuff it plays a toll on me. I get stuffed up and cant sleep that night. Only when i get a dose of it while emptying waste etc. Lets face it, none of the stuff is good for you.
Same for dust, never blow it around. Seems you always get some in your throat first when you inhale to blow out or something. Yes i use use canned air(i mean gas) when i have it. My point on that is the dust has germs and micro dust bugs, you know dust mites; from everyone breathing and coughing on the machine, and crap flying in the air sucked in by the copier etc. Just I think it helps not to get a cold etc. by not blowing it around. See if you dont feel better. Oh i use canned air when i have some, but take stuff outside when possible.Too old to get a good pressure of wind up. Anyhow just lucky we dont work in a coal mine. Dont think the amount we breathe of toner will do us in, unless your snorting the stuff, or chewing it.

[SGT_Snacks-64]

Does this help?

[Mess]

i is bean srvisin coopiers fer 2 moths an i aint gots no preblims

[SGT_Snacks-64]

i is bean srvisin coopiers fer 2 moths an i aint gots no preblims

Apart from the obvious

[sydneymuyamba]

A Great And Detailed Response

Thank you for your detailed responnse to the query about health risks that we tecs face as we handle machines.

Milk is very good to drink after every toner / chemical handling coz chemically milk has been used to nuetralise poisonous stuff. it works well with the blood of a tech!

Thanks

Sydney

[wagon]

Beer also works well after a hard week at work.... But on a serious note, if we use the least toxic chemicals that do the job and minimise our exposures, we should be OK. Maybe.

[SGT_Snacks-64]

One of my customers still has Asbestos in some parts of their Building... I'm more worried about that than IPA :P

[Rudi]

I Must Say Beer Is About The Best Advice I Ever Heard Of Or Could Give To Anyone.

Cheers To Beers

[NEKtech]

NEKtech

I am 49 years old and started servicing copiers when I was 15 years old and haven't done anything else for work in 32 years and still going strong. This is a big concern for me. I worked on the old liquid copiers with kerison based toner and pre-mix. I dumped out a lot of powdered developer in my days. I used FEDRON for years to clean rollers. Right now my back is the only thing hurting. "knock on wood" I'll keep you posted......

[aabarnes1]

Health risks.

I don't know if you smoke, but if you do toner powder inhalation is the least of your worries. Any way most toners since 1995 do not contain any significant amount of carcigens, they do however contain 'carbon black' which is toxic when consumed in large quantities. So unless you sprinkle it on your waffles - don't worry. I think living in the USA where industry and vehicles pump so much pollution and chemicals into the environment you're pretty much unhealthy since the day your born, so you might as well party like it's 2009.

[NEKtech]

Nope!! Hadn't had a ciga-but sinse the age of 22. I live in Vermont USA where the air is fresh, the stars are as bright as ever and the grass is as green as Dublin..... Thanks for the possitive reply!!!

[Llama God]

Smoking 20-40 per day kind of outweighs the toner health risks. So does getting a belt from analogue exposure lamps - that smarts.

I'm a bit worried about my vac's respiratory system though...

[KopyKat]

OK...since toner is classified as flammable, does that mean that if light up a cig after a toner spill call that my lungs might explode???